Wordnet 3.0
NOUN (1)
1.
an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Barometer \Ba*rom"e*ter\, n. [Gr. ba`ros weight + -meter: cf. F.
barom[`e]tre.]
An instrument for determining the weight or pressure of the
atmosphere, and hence for judging of the probable changes of
weather, or for ascertaining the height of any ascent.
[1913 Webster]
Note: The barometer was invented by Torricelli at Florence
about 1643. It is made in its simplest form by filling
a graduated glass tube about 34 inches long with
mercury and inverting it in a cup containing mercury.
The column of mercury in the tube descends until
balanced by the weight of the atmosphere, and its rise
or fall under varying conditions is a measure of the
change in the atmospheric pressure. At the sea level
its ordinary height is about 30 inches (760
millimeters). See Sympiesometer. --Nichol.
[1913 Webster]
Aneroid barometer. See Aneroid barometer, under
Aneroid.
Marine barometer, a barometer with tube contracted at
bottom to prevent rapid oscillations of the mercury, and
suspended in gimbals from an arm or support on shipboard.
Mountain barometer, a portable mercurial barometer with
tripod support, and long scale, for measuring heights.
Siphon barometer, a barometer having a tube bent like a
hook with the longer leg closed at the top. The height of
the mercury in the longer leg shows the pressure of the
atmosphere.
Wheel barometer, a barometer with recurved tube, and a
float, from which a cord passes over a pulley and moves an
index.
[1913 Webster] Barometric
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
barometer
n 1: an instrument that measures atmospheric pressure
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
48 Moby Thesaurus words for "barometer":
aerological instrument, aneroid barometer, aneroidograph,
barograph, barometrograph, canon, check, criterion, degree, feeler,
gauge, glass, graduated scale, hurricane-hunter aircraft,
hygrometer, measure, model, norm, parameter, pattern,
pilot balloon, probe, quantity, radiosonde, random sample, reading,
readout, recording barometer, rule, sample, scale, sound, sounder,
standard, straw vote, test, touchstone, trial balloon, type,
vacuometer, value, weather balloon, weather instrument,
weather satellite, weather vane, weathercock, weatherglass,
yardstick
The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):
BAROMETER, n. An ingenious instrument which indicates what kind of
weather we are having.